As technology and living standards advance, cell phones as well as washing machines have become nearly ubiquitous in the modern world. Unfortunately, sometimes the two interact with the cell phone coming out the loser. That is, cell phones or other mobile electronic devices can be carried in clothing that finds its way into a washing machine, and often the devices are destroyed by washing.
With the increasing sophistication of mobile electronic devices, which is often accompanied by a reduction in size and increase in price, the problem of damage to such devices may be increasing. For example, some cell phones or digital assistants can cost more than $500, approaching the cost of a washing machine. In addition, such electronic devices may contain data that may also be lost, which can have a value far exceeding the cost of a new device.
The extent of the problem and the need for a solution can be evidenced by an internet search using the terms “cell phone” and “washing machine” or searching similar terms. A Google® search using the aforementioned terms yields hundreds of thousands of “hits,” with titles like: “Save your wet cell phone”; “If your cell phone goes through the washing machine, is it possible to get it to come back to life?”; “Parent Pundit: Having a Teenager=Washing a Cell Phone: What to Do?”; “Digg—Did your cellphone get wet? Throw it in the oven.”; etc. In fact, one of those web pages (http://www.water-in-cellphone.com/index/tub.htm) states: “It has been estimated that about 2,160 different people put their cell phone through the wash in a single day.”
The solutions offered by such Internet pages, which attempt to fix a cell phone that has become wet, do not address the underlying problem of keeping a cell phone or other mobile electronic device from being damaged in a washing machine in the first place. Nor do they offer any guarantee of success.
There are probably many reasons for the lack of any real solution to the problem of having a valuable electronic device destroyed by a washing machine. One reason, alluded to above, is simply the small size and convenience of the devices, which may be hidden in clothing with a good chance of being undetected. Another reason may be the difficulty of signaling from inside a washing machine to the outside world, if such signaling were to somehow be attempted. Moreover, attempting to place an electronic device detector inside a washing machine would seem to suffer from the same fate as the afflicted cell phones: destruction due to the washing of the washing machine. Another complicating factor is that there may be other electronic devices in the area, but not in the washing machine, which could falsely trigger an alarm. Additionally, a detector which incorporates active signaling to probe for an electronic device is a potential source of electromagnetic interference, which could also lead to false alarms.